Relief or safety valve.



W. L. OSBORNE. RELIEF: 0B SAFETY VALVE. APPLICATION FILED NOV.12,-1909.

Patnted Sept 13,1910.

(wimp L 0560177 I WM UNITED STATES PATENT osFxc-E.

WILLIAM. L; OSBORNE, OF -(IHIGAGO/ ILLINOIS.

' .aaLmr on sararr VALVE.

' Specification Letters Patent. applioatlon filed November 12,1909.Serial No. 527,688.

To all whom it min comm:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. Oseomm, a citizen ofthe United States,and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of*Illinoisyhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Relief orSafetyfValves; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference. marked.thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improved r'e-. lief or-safety valve of thatkind employing a spring "for. normally holding the valve u on its seat,and against the action of w ich the valve'is lifted from its seat ,when

pressure on the under side thereof exceeds a predetermined limit. @Themventlon consists of the matters heremafter, 'set forth and moreparticularly pointed out in'the appended claims.

Among the ob'ects of the invention is to provide means w ch rmits thevalve piece to be separated from its seat, either for the purposeofinspecting, repairing or cleaning the valve or 'for the u so of din,the valve seat, without I rpo gun g osing the normal compression of thespring, thereby enabling the valve to be thereafter readily assembled oradjusted for use. In this manner the time F uired for assembling andadjusting the my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse sections on thelines 2-2 and 3-3 res eetive'ly, of Fig. 1, looking downwardly, ig. 4 isa frgigentary vertical section of a slightly m ed form of valve to whichmy invention may a ply.-

Asshown n igst 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the casing 10 of the valve isprovided with a flangedLmlet branch 11 and a flanged outlet branch '12,each adapted to be connected any suitable manner with the piping orfittings with which the valve is associated.

The said casing as herein shown comprises a central or main bod portion14 into the lower end of which e branch 11 extends and with which it hasscrew-threaded connection, and a cap portion 15 which fits over and hasscrew-threaded connection with the upper end of the casin body 14. Theupper end of the flanged ranch 11 is countersunk and threaded to'receivewring-16 which is formed to provide an annular tapered valve seat 17.

18 designates a valve-piece having a conical or-tapered seating. ace 19for enga ement with the annular seat 17. ,Said va ve iece is 'formedwith guide wings 20 which lit closely within the passage of the inletbranch 11.

21 designates a stem extendin upwardly from the valve pi? into the 'camber inclosed by the ca The stem is provided with a rounded ower end 23which extends loosely into an upwardly opening recess 24' of the valvepiece. The said stem is provided just above its rounded bearing and witha thickened portion or head 26 of angular cross section .which looselyfits in an angular socket 27 formed in the valve piece above the recess24. The construction described aflords an interlocking connectionbetween the stem and valve-piece by which thevalve piece may be rotatedthrough power applied to the stem. The stem is provided wit an uppersquared end 28, adapted for engagement by suitable implement to turn thesame.

Loosely surrounding the vali e stem-1s a sleeve 30. The lower end of thesleeve s provided with an annular tapered bearing. surface that fits aconical seat 32 formed on the up er side of the head 26 of the valvestem, t e engaging surfaces being such that the stem may turn in thesleeve. The upper end of the sleeve is reduced at 33 to provideabearingfor the upper end of'the stem, and the stem is maintained by"its upper and lowerobearings in the axis of the sleeve. 35 designatesan exterior-1y screw- .threaded, tubular nut which loosely sursionspring 89, the-function of'which 18 to ems compressed between the nut 35and the flange 37 by screwing the nut downwardly into the casing and thecompression of the spring is transmitted to the valve piece through theheaded lower end of the stem the locking nut is to draw the sleeve 30to. hold it against its seat., A joint nut 40, which surrounds and isscrew-threaded to the tubular nut .35, bears against the upper endof'the' casing body and serves to lock the adjusting nut 35 in anyposition of adjustment. I

Located above the adjusting nut is an interiorly screw-threaded springlocking nut 42 which fits over and has screw-threaded connection withthe upper end of the sleeve above the adjusting nut 35 The said nut 42bears at its lower end against the'upper end of the adjusting nut 35. Asherein shown the nut 42 is provided on its lower end withan annularflange 43 which 'fits into an annular rabbet in the upper end of theadjusting nut 35 and is provided with a downwardly facing shoulder 44which bears against the upper end of-said adjusting nut. Both the adusting nut and the locking nut :are formed with exteriorly polygonalupper ends, as shown in to enable them to be readily engage wrench orlike instrument to turn the same.

In the ordinary or usual use of the valve,

made as described, the spring 39 is maintained, through the action ofthe adjusting nut 35, under the proper tension to hold the valve uponits seat against a-predetermined pressure beneath the same, and thiscom-' 42 is screweddownwardly on the sleeve 30' against the adjustingnut 35. The action of upwardly through the adjusting nut and therebycompress the spring 39' between the u wardly moving flange 37 and thefixed a utment or nut 35, A slight additional compression of the springbrought about in this manner is sufici'ent to ease the valve iece offits seat so that it may be turned on its seat for the purpose ofgrinding, the seat,

' the arrangement being such that the valve piece and stem are movableindependently of thevalve stem. Moreover the casing may be dismantledand the seat-removed away from the valve piece without releasing the-compressive force of the spring-39. This is due to the fact that saidspring is-confined between the adjusting nut 35, that is screwthreadedto the casing, ,and'the flange 37- of the sleeve, which flange is heldup against screwe threaded locking nut 42 which bears against the springthrough the action of the screwthe upper end of the adjusting nut. Thevalve piece and stem are free to be rotated an abradant may be appliedto the seat'preparatory to grinding t e'same. After the valve seat hasbeen ground, or after .the valve piece hasbeen replaced and the valveassembled in the 'event of a renewal or repairin% of the valve, thelocking nut 42 is upwardly away from the adjustin nut, which permits thesleeve 30 to'descen under the action of the spring 39, and trans mit theoriginal com ressive force of the spring, through "the eaded stem, tothe valve piece and thereby hold the valve piece on its seat; spring maybe to some extent usedto press the valve piece against its-seatwhen'grinding the seat. 1

My improvements are equally well adapt-f ed to other forms of valve, asfor instance the-form shown in Fig. 4 in which the valve piece 50 has asoft metal facing ring 51 adapted for engagement with the valve seat.

Furthermore the various structural details If desired the force ofthe ofthe valve may be varied within the spirit a and scope of my invention,and the'inven tion is not limited to such details exoeptflas hereinaftermade the subject of specific claims.

I claim as my invention: 1. In a relief or safety valve,theeombinationwith a valve 'piec its seat and a v spring for pressingthe va ve pieceagainst its seat, of locking means for maintaining theseating force of thespring while permit- ;ti-ng free separation orrelative movement of the valve piece and seat 2, In a relief or safetyvalve, the combinatlon with the valve casing provided with a valve seat,a valve-piece and a spring for pressing the valve piece against itsseat, of means within the casing for locking the spring under hlgherthan its normal compression, arranged to perinit separation ofcompressive force of the spring. a 3. In a relief orsafety valve, thecombination with a valve piece, its seatand a the valve piece and seatwithout losing the nation with a valve piece, its seat and a spring forpressing the valve piece against.

its seat, of screw threaded means for easing the spring away from thevalve seat and for locking the spring under at least its maximumcompression.

In a relief or safety valve, the combination with a Valve piece, itsseat,'a spring for pressing the valve piece against its seat andadjusting means acting on the spring for varying the seating force ofthe spring, of means cooperating with said adjusting means for easingthe spring away from the valve seat and for locking the spring undercompression.

6. In a reliefor safety valve, the combination with a casing providedwith a seat, a valve piece engaging the seat, a spring for pressing thevalve piece against its seat, and screw-threaded adjusting means carriedby the casing for varying the seating force of the spring, of meanscooperating with the adjusting means for easing the spring away from thevalve seat, constructed to lock the spring compressed and permit thevalve to be disassembled without losing the compressive force of thespring.

7. In a relief or safety valve, the combination with the valve casingprovided with a seat, a valve piece, a stem made separate from the valvepiece and interlocked there to, whereby the valve piece may be rotatedby power applied to the stem for grinding the seat, and a spring actingthrough said stem to press the valve piece against its seat, of meansfor locking said spring under compression arranged to permit the valvepiece to be eased away from its seat and to be separated therefromwithout losing the compressive force of the spring.

8. In a relief or safety valve, the-combination with a valve casingprovided with a seat, a valve ,piece, a stem made-separate 7 from andbearing against the valve piece, a spring acting, through said stem, topress the valve piece against its seat, and adjusting means carried bythe casing for adjusting the compression of sald spring, of meanscooperating with said adjusting means for easing said spring away fromthe valve piece and for holding said spring under compression. I

9. In a relief or-safety valve, the combination with a. casing providedwith a seat, and a valve piece engaging said seat, and provided withastem, of a sleeve surrounding the stem and bearing at one end against ashoulder on the stem, a tubular ad usting nut surrounding the stem .andha'vingscrewthreaded engagement with the casing,- a spring interposedbetween sald ad ust ng nut and a flange on said sleeve for pressing thevalve piece against its seat and a nut having screw-threaded engagementwith the upper end of the sleeve and having rotatiVeengagement with ashoulder on the adusting nut.

10. In a relief or safety valve, the combination with a casing providedwith a. seat, and a valve piece engaging said seat, and provided with astem, of a sleeve surrounding the stem and bearing at one end against ashoulder on the stem, a tubular adjusting nut surrounding the stem andhaving screwthreaded engagement with the casing, a spring interposedbetween said adjusting nut and a flange on said sleeve for pressing thevalve piece against its seat, and a nut having screw threaded engagementwith the upper end of the sleeve and having rotative engagement with ashoulder on the adjusting nut, said stem being separable from the valvepiece and arranged to be interlocked thereto so as to rotate the valvepiece.

11. In a relief or safety valve, the combination with a casing providedwith a seat, and a valve piece engaging said seat, and provided with astem, of a sleeve surrounding the stem and hearing at one end against ashoulder on the stem, a tubular adjusting nut surrounding the stem andhaving screwthreaded engagement with the casing, a spring interposedbetween said adjusting nut and a flange on said sleeve for pressing thevalve piece against its seat, a nut having screw-threaded engagementwith the upper end of the sleeve and having rotative engagement with ashoulder on the adjusting nut, the casing being provided adjacent tosaid seat with an opening, and a removable plug for closing saidopening.

12. In a relief or safety valve, the combination with a casing-providedwith a seat, and a valve piece enga ing said seat, and provided with astem, 0 a sleeve surrounding-the stem, the stem being provided with aconical shoulder and the sleeve being provided at one end with anannular bearing adapted for rotative engagement with said shoulder, andthe sleeve being restricted at its other end to provide a bearing forsaid stem, a tubular adjusting nut sermwthreaded to the casing throughwhich the sleeve extends, a locking nut screw-threaded to the sleeve andhaving rotative bearing engagement with the adjusting nut and a springinterposed between said adjusting nut and a flange on said sleeve.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I atlix mysignature in the presence of two witnesses, this 8th day of November A.I). 1909.

\VILLIAM L. OSBORNE.

,lVitnesses WILLIAM L. HALL, GEORGE R. VVILKINs.

